The next day, the three of us were off to Animal Kingdom. My parents were on this trip with us but the first couple days they did their own thing because we had Halloween Party tickets and hair cut appointments and such. But anyways... back to Animal Kingdom. (Since these posts are SO FAR BEHIND, I am going to mostly do photo dumps with some captions here and there just to get caught up...)

Our morning started with a phone call (I can't remember now if this one was Goofy or Mickey but I think it was Goofy).

And then we headed to the Animal Kingdom. Admittedly this isn't my favorite of all the parks, but there is enough to do. And with a child that just adores animals, you can't go wrong.

She absolutely loves the safari ride and seeing all the animals..

We met some characters. I just love that she walked up by herself and gave them her book and pen.

And hugs. The hugs!

We also went to see one of my favorite shows- Finding Nemo. Tim could take or leave this one (and pretty much all of the stage shows I think), but I just love it.

And it is safe to say Payton did too...

At the end of the day, Payton got a stuffed zebra and was very careful with him. She had to make sure he was nice and safe on the bus.

We left the park early because we had tickets to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party that night... which started out to be a nightmare, but turned out pretty good....

Last we left off with Payton's updates... was her first day of PreK-3... over a year ago. Where does that leave us now? Well, her second Disney trip. See, when we moved back home I was under the impression I wouldn't be teaching and so we had a trip planned for the end of September because I for once wanted to go when it wasn't going to be insanely busy...however it was. Apparently a lot of people pull their kids out of school that early in the year...and I don't mean little kids, Payton's age. I mean like elementary/middle school aged. Anyways... we were off to Disney again...

Payton had no idea we were going to Disney. She was under the impression that all airplanes went to Disney though and so we planned to use that to our advantage when we got to the airport. I took this first picture telling her that I needed her to do this for my class...

And when we got to the airport and to our gate, we let her look out the window. She figured out that we were going to Disney (because remember all planes go to Disney)... and she was NOT thrilled to see how big the plane was. In fact... this was her response on the airplane when I asked if she was excited.

But she quickly adjusted and she did really amazing on the plane!

And was really excited to get to the hotel...

After getting settled, the three of us were on our way to Magic Kingdom for a very special first haircut. I intentionally waited to get her hair cut because I wanted it done in Disney...

But we had to stop on the way to ride the horsies... it's one of her favorites... still!

And then it was time for the haircut.

She did shockingly well! (This past year's haircut experience was not as great.. she really didn't want a hair cut in 2015 because she wants hair like Rapunzel.)

After the haircut we went and had some story time with Belle. Payton was too shy to volunteer for one of the main parts, but she did participate and was the cutest little plate I ever did see!

At the end all the kids got a picture with Belle. She was in her glory!

Then Payton took us for a spin on the teacups. She loves this ride and loves to spin them. Luckily for me, she isn't strong enough to spin them too fast so that I get sick.

We met Tigger and did a couple other rides and then went back to the hotel for the night.

I know this is an eternity late and that I haven't posted in over 2 months... and that I am still not caught up on the events leading up to this point... but trying to get ready to go on maternity leave and maintain my plans and such for while I am not on leave, has been draining me. Not to mention we found a house and are trying to get ready to move... and of course welcome this baby... But I figured I should probably get this gender reveal post up because it is one of my favorite memories of this pregnancy.

Background info- when Tim and I got engaged in Disney, it all started at this wishing well. So we have made it a tradition to take a picture at this wishing well every time we visit Disney. So it only made sense that we did our gender reveal here.

*Disclaimer- this reveal was 98% Tim's idea... I am just typing up the details.

So here is what we did...

Since we were on this vacation with some of our friends, we gave them the sealed envelope. We took Payton on a ride while they went to buy either a pink or blue balloon. We met back with them at the wishing well.

We gave Payton a coin to throw into the wishing well and to make a wish for her new brother or sister.

And then we took our family picture.

Afterwards, the gender was revealed behind us... as if by magic (and a little help from Lindsey).

We let Payton turn around first to see what color the balloon was...

And then we turned around.

Once we took the picture, we told Payton why there was a pink balloon. First reaction from her- she was mad. She really wanted a brother. But then we told her all the fun things she could do with a baby sister and how she could teach her all kinds of things like how to play ponies and princesses and how to wear her hair bows, etc. And then she came around.

Later on, while on the bus (maybe even the next day), Payton says to me... "Mommy, some boys like pink right?" (I had NO idea where this was going). I said yeah honey some boys like pink... she said "well mommy, maybe this baby is a boy but he likes pink and that's why we got a pink balloon." I said oh no honey that is not how this works. But she is DEFINITELY excited for her little sister to be coming soon and her thoughts of having a brother are gone.

We also revealed the baby's name in Disney...

We got ear hats embroidered with Payton's name and the baby's name and took these pictures...

So coming soon (really REALLY soon since this took me forever to post...)- Ariana Marie!
(Pronounced Are-ee-on-uh... NOT Air-ee-on-uh)